IN A WORLD WITHOUT GOD, WHAT DOES SUICIDE MEAN?

When society no longer sees the taking of one’s own life as a sin, it is unclear who should be responsible for attempting to prevent such deaths

Nina Power, Pierre d’Alancaisez

WHEN LIFE BECOMES UNLIVEABLE, who are you going to call? A friend? A doctor? A priest? In the transition from the Christian to the liberal notion of property, we no longer belong to God, with all the concomitant demands to look after ourselves. On the contrary, we belong only to ourselves, and thus can dispense with ourselves as we see fit. No more bonds, duties, obligations or higher values. No more worrying about eternal damnation, and no obligation to be grateful for the gift of life either. We live in the era, not only of the fully administered life, as Max Horkheimer put it, but of the total bureaucratising of death. In this vision of the world, suicide is simply one more thing to check off the list. In his…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, August - September 2023

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